


A Captive Audience

by Exxact



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: An Imperial March, Brentaal Futures Program, Galen is a Gentleman, Gen, M/M, One-Sided Crush, Underage Flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 10:25:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10010297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Exxact/pseuds/Exxact
Summary: That same unnerving gaze is now directed at Galen.  “So we’re stuck here until it’s fixed? Dee-lightful.”  Krennic drags out the word, pursing his lips into an exaggerated pout.Galen frowns, his eyes instinctively darting over Krennic’s shoulder.  “I pressed the emergency com button already.  There’s nothing else to do.”Written for AnImperialMarch's Day 9: "Waiting For Repairs".





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic includes descriptions of a 15-year-old Krennic flirting with a 20-year-old Galen, who, of course, does not take advantage of Krennic in any way. There is no sexual content concerning underage characters in this fic (or in any of my fics).

Galen’s morning had been going too smoothly for the boy’s level lift to _not_ screech to a halt two floors above the cafeteria. He’d had adequate time to shower and brush his teeth, hadn’t received any pinches or slaps from Ilhe while dressing, and had even had a moment to correct a miscalculated crystal facet angle from last night. Now, not only was he going to miss breakfast (the only meal that offered unlimited caf packets and extra fruit), it was also likely that he’d be late to Planetary Structural and Surface Processes, left to walk the halls without the protection of a monitoring teacher’s pity.

 

And, of course, there was also the small matter of not being _alone_ in the malfunctioning lift.

 

Orson Krennic, the new boy from Lexrul, is currently stranded right along with him. Barely three weeks into the Futures Program and he’s already begun to make himself an utter menace. He sneaks in past curfew, stinking of an unpleasant sourness and shaking with laughter that wakes their entire floor. Galen’s spotted him wandering between classes and meals, all thick-lashed looks and knowing smirks at older boys who should know better than to wink back.

 

That same unnerving gaze is now directed at Galen. “So we’re stuck here until it’s fixed? Dee-lightful.” Krennic drags out the word, pursing his lips into an exaggerated pout.

 

Galen frowns, his eyes instinctively darting over Krennic’s shoulder. “I pressed the emergency com button already. There’s nothing else we can do.”

 

“Fine,” Krennic huffs, turning away to look out of the transparisteel wall of the lift, leaving Galen to study him in silence. His hair is an identical color to the dulled yellow of the sand dunes rising in front of him, brushing soft, unshaven cheeks. Too young to truly understand the game he believes he’s already mastered, already becoming another plaything for Bannissun and his ilk. Galen could almost pity him were he not poised to join their ranks fully within the next few weeks.

 

Krennic catches Galen’s eye in the reflection of the lift. He whirls back around, a child’s spin more than a future cadet’s turn. “You’re the one who’s always going on about rocks and the clean energy you can get by using them,” he tells an impassive Galen. “I was assigned to Intro to Planetary Geology, but I asked them to put me into Intro to Architecture instead. I’d rather be an engineer than look at sand samples for the rest of my life.”

 

Galen shrugs the implied criticism off, though Krennic’s haughty misclassification of kyber minerals as rocks does bring a smile to his lips.

 

“Well, I still like to read about engineering methods. Supplementary material for my clean energy rock dreams, you know.”

 

Krennic’s tongue darts out, as though he were a varactyl gauging Galen’s intent. “So you like to be interdisciplinary? I want to try to do that with architecture and engineering while I’m here.”

 

“Mm,” Galen hums cautiously, taken aback by Krennic’s sudden shift in tone. He wants to ask where Krennic hopes to take his studies afterwards, to begin to learn why Krennic is so intent on construction, but he’s cut short by a gentle touch to his shoulder and a flash of fingers brushing through his hair.

 

“You don’t look much like the other geology students, you know.”

 

Galen blushes despite himself. Krennic is poking fun at him, he suspects, but compliments directed towards him are too rare to not elicit such a response when unaccompanied by open disdain.

 

“True,” he replies, shrugging off Krennic’s hands uneasily. “I’m too pale and soft to be one of them. And definitely not enough of a charming rogue,” he adds, sounding bitter even to his own ears.

 

Krennic frowns at Galen’s attempt at friendly self-depreciation. “Don’t say things like that about yourself.” His eyes are wide with youthful concern, unguarded, and Galen feels a stab of regret. He’s judged Krennic just as he knows how new students have judged him, basing his entire impression of the boy on assumed truths and lights-out whispers.

 

Krennic pauses, watching the changes in Galen’s expression before grinning wickedly. “I meant that you’re too handsome to be a geologist, not that you’re boring! Besides, I like nice men, not those scarred-up drunks.”

 

 _“Please don’t say things like that,”_ Galen aches to tell him, a cramp forming in his empty belly. _“Let’s just talk about our studies, our ideas—what you’re really interested in. You don’t need to pretend you want otherwise from me like you have to do with the others.”_

 

Instead, Galen smiles crookedly, slipping a folded sheet of flimsi out from his breast pocket.

 

“Well, this is what I’ve been working on, if you’d like to look at it. Or report back to Bannisuun and Ilhe that I tried to engage with you in one of my mad ramblings, whichever suits you.”

 

Krennic lets out a shallow breath as though in awe, and Galen regrets his prior judgment of the boy once again. “Please, Erso?” he asks, his words seeped in that same intoxicating trust. “I promise—I promise that I won’t tell stupid Wys or even Arcas anything!”

 

Galen’s voice quivers in response to Krennic’s enthusiasm. “I’ve been studying kyber crystals—what the Jedi use to power their lightsabers,” he begins cautiously, quickly losing his self-consciousness as his explanation continues. “They occur naturally on several planets and are part of the trigonal crystal system. This is a blueprint comparing a fairly standard sample to one of generic quartz. See?” He bends down, laying the sheet across his bent knees in order to provide better contrast to the gray  ink. “Both of them have prismatic habits and are twinned and transparent, just like the quartz that’s found in the sand on this planet if you’ve ever looked at it under a microscope. Then, there’s the lattice—”

 

The sound of grating durasteel interrupts Galen’s flurry of words, followed by a measured drop in the lift’s height. “Lift 97 is fully operational,” a droid’s voice tells them through the emergency com, and Galen realizes that they’ve reached his class’s level instead of the cafeteria's.

 

Krennic’s expression is nearly comically torn between disappointment and gratitude. “Now we have time to get breakfast!” he finally exclaims, dragging Galen up from his awkward crouch. “The whipped cheese here is way better than my mom’s. It’s the only thing I ate for dinner on the day I arrived!”

 

Galen tries not to shudder at the image of Krennic eating spoonfuls of artificial cream cheese and calling it a meal. “It’s 0709 now. We can’t stop just to get food. Besides, the cafeteria closes at 0705 at the _very_ latest.”

 

Krennic’s mischievous smile returns. “It didn’t for me yesterday.”

 

Galen sighs. “I need to get off here. Have a good day.” Krennic’s brow furrows as he watches Galen re-fold the flimsi, a shadow of his earlier pout returning. “And you can call me Galen. If you’d like,” Galen finishes, his sentence punctuated by the opening of the lift onto his designated floor.  Before he turns to leave, he catches a final glimpse of Krennic, a grin scrunching up his nose.

 

“Nice meeting you, Galen!” he shouts, loud enough to echo throughout the corridor.

 

Galen cringes slightly at the accompanying wink, but he stays close to the lift, waving until it carries Krennic away from him with a smooth rush of energy.

 

**Author's Note:**

> -If the names “Wys Bannisuun" and “Arcas Ilhe" sound somewhat familiar, then thank you for reading “Potentiality”!


End file.
